Resurgence
by Susan Popplewell
Summary: Set post Winter Soldier, but where all movies after Winter Soldier do not take place. Nick Fury gathers Natasha, Steve, and Falcon for a mission: several key political figures have been secretly murdered and replaced. Fury suspects that it's tied in with a secret project of SHIELDs' that he turned down. But soon they discover there's more going on then what they think.
1. Chapter 1

_**Just a reminder that this story is set post-Winter Soldier, but in an alternate time-line where the films proceeding Winter Soldier do not take place. And I will be exploring a Steve/Natasha ship. Please no-one attack me for this. Also, I should warn you that I won't be able to post frequently as I am working on other stories, but I will update whenever I'm able.**_

_**Forgive any possible OOC's in this chapter - this is my first Marvel story.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Mine? No, Marvel came up with the idea before me. Money? Nope. Don't be ridiculous.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

* * *

As Natasha's hands caressed her mug of hot chocolate, her eyes constantly roamed the Cafe. She momentarily glanced at her reflection in a nearby glass that an old, rather refined lady was holding elegantly in her hand. _Good_, she mentally complimented herself. She didn't even recognize herself. She had cut her hair to a pixie cut and dyed it a medium natural blonde and was wearing blue eye contacts. She had also bought - by stealing someone's credit card - a special lotion that would change the colour of her skin, and also applied meshing tape that made her ears appear smaller than they actually were and when applied to her face, would make her cheekbones more pronounced. She would have just used a Photostatic Veil, but couldn't obtain one once she went on the run. She had only been able to get one after she started working for S.H.I.E.L.D, which was no longer in service. Plus, she didn't dare show her face anywhere near anything S.H.I.E.L.D-related after it crashed and burned along with Hydra, though she suspected there were Hydra sleeper cells hiding out there somewhere.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

A young, sweet voice shattered her wandering thoughts. Looking up with a pretend smile, her smile faltered slightly when she saw who it was.

The waiter who had served her before.

He hadn't done anything - in fact, she could tell he was an open and honest person, extremely sweet - but it was _who _he had facial similarities to.

_Rogers._

She felt heat creeping up into her cheeks and frowned slightly. Why did she seem to suddenly hold her breath whenever she saw someone who reminded her of Rogers? Even seeing his face plastered all over the news caused her breath to catch. She suddenly remembered the concerned man infront of her.

"Uh...yeah. Just...lost in thought, I guess," Natasha replied. _Damn! I'm losing my touch_.

He nodded, his eyes seemingly cutting through her. "Well, if you need anything, anything at all, just call me over," he told her.

She chuckled. "You're sweet," she replied. He smiled and went back to serving other customers. After watching him leave, she then took a sip of her hot chocolate. _Well done_. She then stood up and exited the cafe, leaving her barely-drunk drink at her table, and headed down the street to go back to her temporary apartment. Crossing a street, Natasha happened to notice a forest green Lotus Evora car. _Nice. Have to keep that in mind when I need transport to leave_.

The street was pretty crowded. As she maneuvered her way through the ocean of people, she sensed someone watching her. Eyes were boring into her. _Hmm_. Passing a jewellery store, Natasha stopped and retraced her steps, now standing infront of the jewellery store window. Pretending to be carefully studying the jewellery on display, her eyes surreptitiously roaming the area, trying to work out who was watching her and where.

A dark-skinned hooded male, about early twenties, possibly late twenties with a cigar in his mouth passed her and stopped at a nearby trash receptacle and took out his cigar, exhaling some smoke and dumped it in the receptacle. She caught him glance at her for a millisecond. A millisecond and then...

"Wilson?" she mouthed, still staring at the store's window. He almost imperceptibly nodded, raising a finger to his mouth.

_Shh_.

He then turned and walked away, disappearing into the rush. She turned and quickly followed after him. She didn't want to lose him. In fact, she was surprised at the sudden need she felt to be with someone she knew. Someone who wasn't one of her enemies. But still, one burning question bothered her as she saw Sam Wilson's retreating back disappear into an alleyway.

How did he track her down?


	2. Chapter 2

Wilson quickly ducked into an alleyway and then turned a right into another abandoned intersecting alleyway. Then he stopped and turned around.

Natasha wasn't there.

He shouldn't have been surprised – it was Natasha he was fetching, after all. But still. __Where is she?__

Then a figure came around the same corner that he had and stepped forward. "Wilson?" the person said. There was no mistaking who it was.

Natasha.

He broke out into a huge grin. "Hey, Nat. Nice to see you again," he greeted. She smiled.

"Impress the girl at the front desk yet?" she asked with a teasing smile.

He chuckled, though there was a hint of disappointment in it. "No, I haven't gone near her since we had to disappear," he said sadly. He shrugged self-consciously, trying to brush it off. "Think about her everyday, though."

She nodded in understanding. "I missed seeing you guys, as well," she said sincerely. Then she inhaled. "So, enough flirting. Why am I here? What do you want?"

Wilson should have expected her to get to it sooner or later. "Nick Fury wants you to come meet him in Teresina," he replied.

"Teresina?" Natasha repeated. "Thought he was in Europe."

Wilson nodded. "He was, but he's apparently moved down to South America. Got an e-mail from him saying that he wanted me to come meet him in Teresina and to get you as well," Wilson explained.

"How'd he find your e-mail?"

Wilson shrugged. "It's Fury. He'll find a way."

Natasha nodded at that. "Did he tell you where to find me?"

"As a matter of fact, he did."

Natasha was silent as she seemed to digest this information. "Did he say where exactly we are to meet him in Teresina and why he wanted us?"

"He gave me a number to call if you agreed to come aboard and said that it was something that you do NOT (and he emphasised that) want to sneeze on this," Wilson explained and then paused to see what she said. She didn't say anything, just silently listened, her face an undecipherable mask. "That's it. You wanna' come?"

She walked over to him until she was just a few inches infront of him, her eyes narrowed, scrutinizing his face. Then, she smirked and...

...broke into a million pixels.

__What the hell?!__

"Over here, fly boy," she called from behind him and saw her standing behind a large garbage bin, a few feet behind him. She went over to him, holding a holo-projector device in her right hand.

__His __holo-projector device.

__Wait, what?__

He quickly checked his pockets, finally looking at her with a mixture of bewilderment and amazement. "Alright, miss smarty pants. How'd you do it?" he interrogated, crossing his arms across his chest.

She cocked her head. "Well, it was so crowded out there, it wouldn't hard for someone to pickpocket you, now would it?" she said with a smile.

"Ha!" he chuckled. "It's good to see you, Nat."

Her eyes went wistful and she seemed to be staring at something in the past. "Yeah...come on. We're burning daylight." And with that, she turned and marched off.

"Where we going?" Wilson called out to her.

"Where do you think?"

* * *

__**Sorry for not posting in ages. Life, obligations and other shit. I warned you that I wouldn't be able to post regularly.**__

__**Hope you enjoyed!  
**__


	3. Chapter 3

_**I am **_**sooo ****_sorry for not updating this sooner. I was a little stuck on exactly how and what to write. Plus...I played favourites and decided to work on other stories instead (shrugs). Anyway, hope you enjoy this story!_**

* * *

Natasha smirked, covering her mouth with her fingers to stop herself from bursting out laughing at the snoring man slouched in the seat next to her.

_Oh, Wilson_, she silently chuckled, shaking her head and turned back to the meal one of the stewardesses' had delivered to her. As she silently ate, she wondered yet again why Fury was wanting to speak to her and Wilson about.

Wilson had called the number Fury gave him after their little chat and the number turned out to belong to the city's airport, where Wilson then booked the next flight to Teresina. After they had arrived at the airport, they received an SMS on Wilson's phone from an anonymous number telling them to meet Fury at Ponte Estaiada in Teresina. Googling it, Wilson had found out that Ponte Estaiada was one of Teresina's popular tourist attractions. She checked her watch. _Two more hours_, she stifled a yawn and stretched.

Needing the Ladies, she stood up and made her way over to the plane's toilets. After she had finished and was washing her hands, her eyes glanced up and she paused, staring at her reflection in the mirror, but not seeing it. Nat rested her palms on the rim of the sink and absentmindedly leaned on it.

_Fury knew where I was. That means he's been watching me all this time. That means that when he disappeared into Europe, it wasn't just to hide. He must have either planted a tracker on me or has people that I haven't even spotted keeping an eye on me. Why would he want to keep track of me? What's he up to? What's so important that he'd risk blowing Wilson's and my covers?_

Then she paused.

_What if he's been doing the same to Steve?_

Feeling that weird warmth at the mere thought of her partner-in-crime, she quickly detached herself from the sink and quickly dried her hands, deliberately focusing simply on the task at hand. Making her way back to her seat, she turned on the plane's in-flight entertainment system. She might as well occupy herself for the remainder of the flight.

* * *

_**Ponte Estaiada, Teresina**_

Wilson took another sip of his Cappuccino before hearing his phone ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, he accepted the call, putting it to his ear. "Olá?" he answered, speaking in Portuguese, which was the official national language of Teresina.

"_W__sou eu."_

It's me.

_Ah, Natasha_.

Acting like he was taking it all in, he looked around and saw Natasha at a pay phone, her back to him. She had done her red hair up into a bun, wearing a white and blue twisted Batik headband as well as a black ROSYLINE Womens Cami Crop Top with spaghetti straps and skin-tight navy blue shorts that were designed to be frayed around the edges and the pockets. She was also wearing cat eye sunglasses with an black and orange stripped pattern.

"Ah! Minha querida!" he greeted. Ah! My sweetheart! He felt a twinge of guilt as he called her that, as he began to think of that girl behind the desk, but quickly pushed it away. This was a cover that Natasha had come up with, with 'Ah! My sweetheart!' being code for 'No sign of Fury yet'.

She laughed, light and airy, but with a seductive lilt. _She's a good actress_. _"Senti sua falta também," _she replied. Missed you, too. That was code for 'Same. Keep looking.' Before their 'conversation' could go any further, Wilson felt the hairs on the back of his hair stand on end, like someone was boring holes into the back of his head. He turned around and nearly jumped in surprise.

_Fury?_

"Come with me," was all he said, and in a low voice, and he turned and began weaving through the crowds. Wilson was about to tell Natasha when he heard a _beep beep beep _on the phone line and then saw Nat pass him, on Fury's tail.

And he followed both.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Thank you to High King Peter the Magnificen for his review! And thank you all for being so patient. I apologise sincerely for the delay - I had a writer's block and got caught up with all my other stories and stuff. I'll really try and do better.  
**_

* * *

Wilson followed Natasha's and Fury's backs as they moved through the crowds. Cause Natasha was the closest one that was following Fury, he kept his eyes on her as he weaved through the ocean of tourists. He saw her start to slow a little then pick up the pace. He sped up and saw her and Fury hopping into a car - Fury in the driver's side and Natasha in the middle back passenger seat. Wilson jogged over and hopped into the front passenger seat, shutting his car door.

Fury, without a word, ignited the engine and steered the car onto the bustling streets. As they moved through town, Wilson stared out the window, enjoying the view. He knew that there was no point in asking Fury for information.

Fury would only tell them what he wanted to tell them when he wanted.

And you could never tell if he was lying or not.

"How was the flight?" Fury asked in a casual tone like he was simply discussing the weather, yet Wilson thought that he wasn't really interested in hearing the answer, but was asking out of a polite courtesy.

"It was excellent," Natasha said with a smile. Wilson glanced up into the rearview mirror inside the car and saw that there was a slight frown on Natasha's forehead as she eyed Fury. _She's sensed that, too_.

Fury nodded, this time in an absent-minded manner. "Good," he murmured and Wilson got the distinct impression that Fury would have said that if Natasha had said that two men had attacked them on the plane and held the passengers at gunpoint - i.e., Wilson had the impression that Fury wasn't really paying any attention to her answer.

"You two hungry?" Fury asked, turning a right and quickly glancing at Wilson and Natasha for the first time since they entered the car. Natasha shook her head and yawned. Wilson eagerly nodded.

"Oh, yeah! Starving," he replied.

"Alright. Want pizza?"

Wilson whooped. "Oh, hell yeah!"

* * *

Wilson kept glancing at the _four _large pizza boxes that were by his feet. _I wish I could get into them right now! _But Fury had said to wait until they arrived - wherever and whenever that was. Plus, Wilson knew that he couldn't sneak something on Fury's watch - the man was too good.

_But why four? Surely we'd only need one, possibly two, for the three of us_.

_Unless there _isn't _just the three of us at wherever it is that we're going_.

_That _was something that he should have thought of earlier, he thought, and he stared intently at the pizzas as he kept repeating to himself that he. Wouldn't. Eat. Anything. _Now_.

"We're here," Fury announced, putting the car into park.

Wilson hadn't even heard the car pulling up.

But he quickly unbuckled himself and grabbed the boxes, rushing out of the car to get inside and start eating.

Someone laughed behind him. "Still the same old Wilson," the same voice that had just laughed remarked.

Wilson turned around. "Steve?"

Then again, somehow he wasn't all that surprised.


	5. Chapter 5

_Steve?_

Natasha was halfway out of the car when she heard that familiar laugh that set off that weird warmth in her again. But eager to see another familiar face, she looked around as she fully climbed out of the car and shut the door, spotting Steve as Wilson turned around, looking intrigued, but somehow not surprised.

_Well, well, well_, she thought. _Still just as muscular as ever_.

_Wait...when did I ever pay attention to his muscular aptitude?_

Shaking her head with a slight sigh, Natasha stepped forward with a genuinely warm smile and outstretched arms. "Rogers," she greeted. He turned and some surprise danced across his features before his face broke out into a smile and he entered Natasha's embrace, giving her one of his own.

"Great to see you, Nat," he said quietly in her ear.

She hummed ever so slightly before pulling away and glancing at Wilson and Fury, who was standing back and watching the renuion with an _Alright, can we move on? _expression on his face, though she simply ignored him and turned her attention back to her friend.

"So...who's the girl?" she said with a small smirk and a teasing lilt in her voice.

Steve merely raised an amused eyebrow at her. "What girl?"

"Oh come now, you can't pretend that the girls aren't lining up to get a taste of the dashing Rogers or whatever your name is nowadays," Natasha teased.

Steve smirked. "Oh, so you think I'm _dashing_ do you?"

_Uh..._

"Alright, enough of this teary-eyed shit, let's get inside before the pizzas get cold," Fury said and walked inside the building, carrying the four boxes in his arms. "And thank you all for your help bringing in the food."

Wilson just scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You two coming?" he asked Nat and Steve.

The two in question nodded and followed Wilson inside. Nat leaned closer to Steve and whispered, "You know what's going on here?"

Steve shook his head. "Not a clue."

_Hmm...just what's going on?_


End file.
